The number of births still falling in France in 2024 and at its lowest since 1945

INSEE records a decrease of 2.2% fewer births in 2024 compared to 2023. The total fertility indicator, which now stands at 1.62 children per woman, has never been this low since 1919.

More and more French people, but fewer and fewer births. INSEE (The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, Editor's note) is publishing its demographic report for the year 2024 this Tuesday, January 14. With 68.6 million inhabitants (including 66.4 million in mainland France) recorded as of January 1, the country recorded an increase of 0.25% in its population (68.44 million inhabitants).

But behind this increase lies more important information: in 2024, 663,000 babies will be born in France. This is 2.2% less than in 2023 and 21.5% less than in 2010, the year of the last peak in births. The decline observed is, however, less significant than that between 2022 and 2023 (-6.6%).

The number of births depends, on the one hand, on the number of women said to be of childbearing age and, on the other hand, on their fertility. “Since 2016, the female population aged 20 to 40 has changed little in number,” underlines INSEE.

The total fertility indicator, which stands at 1.62 children per woman in 2024 after 1.66 in 2023, has never been so low since 1919. This indicator “has been decreasing since 2010, when it stood at 2.02 children per woman in mainland France.

Mortality on the rise compared to 2023

Note, however, that in 2022, the last year available for European comparisons, the total fertility indicator stood at 1.46 children per woman in the entire European Union and that it is in France where it was the highest (1.78).

At the same time, mortality increased in France with 646,000 deaths in 2024, or +1.1% compared to 2023. INSEE explains that this increase is mainly explained “by the aging of the population”.

“Since 2011, the number of deaths has tended to increase due to the arrival at ages of high mortality of the large baby boom generations, born from 1946 to 1974 (…) In 2024, the number of deaths is 5% higher than its pre-pandemic level of 2019″, develops the public body.

As a result, the natural balance (difference between the number of births and the number of deaths in the same year) stands at +17,000 in 2024, the lowest level since the end of the Second World War.

In addition, life expectancy at birth stabilizes this year at a historically high level: 85.6 years for women and 80 years for men.